WASHINGTON — Four of five Democrats in Colorado’s delegation called on their Republican colleagues Thursday morning to get back to Washington and pass the Senate-approved two month extension of payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance, saying the livelihood of 160 million Americans depended on it.

“Here we go again, right up to the brink,” said Rep. Ed Perlmutter[1], in a conference call with Reps. Jared Polis and Diana DeGette and Senator Mark Udall, all Democrats. Perlmutter was referring to the last-minute nature of taking care of business in Washington in 2011, including raising the debt ceiling and funding the federal government.

“It’s very disappointing. You finally get 39 or so Republicans in the Senate to work with the Democrats,” he said. “It seemed resolved and out of nowhere they say they want a year … They can’t even get this right.”

Last Saturday, the Senate passed, 89-10, a two-month extension of the payroll taxcut and lengthened the law that extends the time people can collect unemployment insurance. They also passed the so-called “doc fix,” which ensures doctors who see Medicare patients get proper reimbursements for 2012. Though the agreement was largely bi-partisan, House Republicans — including those from Colorado — on Monday denounced the deal, saying a two-month agreement was too short term to do any good.

The reason the Senate only passed a two-month deal, leaders said, is because they couldn’t figure out how to pay for an entire year before the end of the year. Both Colorado’s Democrats Udall and Sen. Michael Bennet voted in favor of the deal.

“I don’t get why they rejected the compromise,” Udall said, noting it was “playing chicken at the expense of Americans.”

DeGette said the Senate deal was indeed a compromise.

“We don’t love this compromise. We don’t think it should be two months, we didn’t like the extension of the pipeline in it,” she said, referring to a requirement in the Senate deal that President Obama make a decision about the 1,700 mile Keystone oil sands pipeline that would run from Canada to the Gulf Coast. “But the thing is, it’s a compromise. We need to have our elected officials compromising.”

The House members said they were willing to come back to Washington this weekend to work with the GOP to pass the Senate deal.

“You’re demagoguing this issue and you’re doing it on the back of the American public,” DeGette said. “Do it today or tomorrow. Agree to the Senate bill, keep the payroll tax cuts going for a couple months … And then let’s negotiate a one year deal.”

From their homes, Colorado’s four Republican House members weren’t in the mood to cave to these demands Thursday.

“What they ought to be doing is putting pressure on their colleagues in the Senate, who have not passed a budget in three years, to get back to work,” said Rep. Mike Coffman[2], R-Aurora, in an email. “Participate in the conference committee, and produce a bill that reconciles the differences between the House and Senate.”

Whatever the outcome, the infighting is unlikely to help Congress’ already bottom-of-the-barrel 9 percent approval ratings this year. A poll[3] found more people approved of communism and BP during the oil spill than Congress.

The payroll tax cuts, which were in place in 2010, save an average household making $50,000 a year $1,000. They expire in nine days.